Lonely Youngling
by Pagen Godess
Summary: It wasn't just Hiccup releasing him from the bola that made him stay. There was another reason as well one that only he seemed to notice and took upon himself to fix because no youngling should ever have to feel alone.


There were moments though brief and few when Toothless wondered what the humans of Hiccup's clan thought of him. It never took him long after that errant thought to realize that it didn't really matter all that much to him. But still there were moments when his curiosity roused itself and he couldn't help but wonder. He knew quite well what he thought about his human.

In fact most of his kind shared the same thoughts and feelings that he did. There was a reason after all that his boy seemed to be the one human that all of the dragons connected to. Even those that had riders would seek him out for a scratch or a rub. The reason why however wasn't quite what the humans assumed it to be.

It was often said that Hiccup "had a way with the beasts" and while that was true to a small extent it wasn't the real reason that he and the rest of his clan were so fond of the youngling. No it wasn't just the scratches and the rubs and the kind words. Above all else it was the scent. The same scent that had caused him, the dreaded Night Fury, to spare the humans life after he'd been freed from the bola that had caused him to fall from the sky.

While it was true that the boy had freed him and that he had in turn owed the boy his own life that simple rule hadn't been the only reason. Though it had been at first. At least until he'd gotten a good nose full of the boy's scent. In the few seconds it took for him to take in that single breath he'd come to a sudden and startling conclusion.

The boy he had pinned was alone.

Usually humans not only smelled of their own unique scent but of the dozens of others that lived in their clan as well. But the boy beneath him had no other scents on him that were strong enough to suggest that he spent most of his time in close quarters with the humans of his clan. In fact the only other human scents on him weren't even strong enough of him to tell if he had a parents.

Every other human scent he could catch only suggested the slightest of touches. Nothing strong enough to linger. Was it possible that the frightened little one beneath him didn't have a family?

Dragons were highly social creatures with an exception to that rule here or there and from what he'd seen of the humans they were as well. Both species were alike in that respect and surly one so young and small would have someone watching over him at all times.

He knew quite well that dragon youngling's were watched over until they were deemed big enough to take care of themselves. It was a process that always took a few years or more, depending on how fast the youngling in question grew. This was something he knew quite well considering that he had protected his fair share of younglings. Both his own and other dragons.

The human that had freed him however hadn't been any of his business after that moment however and he'd roared his frustration at the little one and left. He hadn't expected to see the little human again. Much to his surprise however he'd been near again the very next day and though they hadn't made contact he'd both heard and smelt him as the youngling scurried around the rocks and dropped his charcoal pencil.

He'd smelled the same though there seemed to be a hint of sorrow and embarrassment lingering in the air around him like the smell of lightning in a storm.

It was the next day however that things between them really began to change and it hadn't been the fish the youngling had brought for him to eat either, though it had helped. This time he'd taken the time to truly think over every scent that lingered on the boy as he drew in the dirt with a stick.

There was the lack of other clear human scents same as before, as well as the boy's own unique smell. Then there was the faint smell of other dragons. A Gronkle and a Nadder if he wasn't mistaken and he was quite sure that he wasn't mistaken at least not where others of his kind were concerned. He also caught a new smell this time. One he simply hadn't taken the time to ponder two days before. Hiccup (as the boy was called by his kind) smelled strongly of smoke, metal, and charcoal. Those three things alone were enough to tell him where the boy spent most of his time other than in his den and in the forest.

It made him wonder about the only strong human scent on the boy. For half a moment he had pondered the idea that perhaps the man that worked with the boy in the forge was the boy's sire. The idea was false however. There weren't any similarities in the two scents other than what he was sure would be the smell from the forge.

Being able to smell the similarities in beings that were related was important as it kept their kind from inbreeding and risking younglings that were sick and weak.

There was however a faint scent that he couldn't quite catch that might have been from the younglings sire and if it was he was surprised that he seemed to spend so little time with his own offspring that his scent was barley there. Though that might have been part of the reason why things between him and his little human went the way they did.

It was odious to him (as it would have been to most others of his kind) that the youngling before him wasn't ready to be out on his own yet and needed a watchful eye kept on him. Humans didn't seem to understand that younglings all grew at different rates and were each different from one another. At least that's what he was able to gather from the words that poured out of Hiccup's mouth when the boy visited and needed someone to listen to him.

The poor little one wanted so desperately to belong and prove his worth. More than anything however he knew that what the youngling really wanted was proof that his sire loved him. Proof that Hiccup had been denied for far to long.

Even his own younglings had known that he and the dragoness that was their mother had loved and still loved them. Perhaps that was why he felt the need to reach out and show the little being that would sit beside him the same thing. So that he would know that he was loved at least by him if not by any other.

It had come to a surprise to him that in the few weeks that passed that the alone scent began to be overpowered by another. While it was true that the alone scent still lingered even though the scent of other humans was a little bit stronger there was one thing that seemed to eclipse them both. And the moment he'd recognized it had been a surprise even to him who spent almost every moment he could with the human in question.

The alone scent had faded some and the human scent had gotten a little bit stronger. It was his scent however that was most noticeable on the boy. His and the faint scents of the dragons from the village that prevailed and mixed with Hiccup's natural scent and the alone scent. He hadn't been too sure if he should have been proud or worried by that. In the end it hadn't mattered really. Hiccup was his by that point and nothing was going to change that.

He'd adopted a human as a surrogate youngling and friend. He'd taught the little one things that most dragon younglings were taught by their parents and had discovered a few things on accident about himself and his kind. Things that he had forgotten over his many years. All of it however went towards helping Hiccup survive when near dragon kind. He'd even taught the youngling how to fly! Though it was true that the youngling still needed him in order to do it.

Surly had Hiccup not been a human he would have made a fine dragon when he was grown. Not particularly strong but he was smart and fast which were things to be just as proud of. And he couldn't have been prouder if the little human had been hatched from an egg like he had been. Hiccup had learned well and while there had been nothing left to teach him that could be taught (for in order to teach those things hiccup would have needed fangs and claws) he'd felt confident that his little human could at lest keep himself safe amongst dragon kind.

He'd been dead wrong on that front. Though to be fair it hadn't been his youngling's fault. The sound of metal striking metal had reached him long before his youngling's screams had though he'd chosen to ignore the noise. He'd heard noises similar to that when his human was gone before and he hadn't been too worried.

It was when he'd heard the scream and caught the scent that he'd panicked. He hadn't been aware of becoming so in tuned to Hiccup's scent and truthfully he hadn't cared that he had at all as he'd raced towards his youngling. He had followed his scent the entire way to the cage that his clan had put him in.

There had been no thought in his actions when he'd burst through the cage and challenged the frightened and panicked Nightmare. There had been no thought afterwards when he'd been ready to kill the humans that had spilled into the cage to finally help his youngling. There had only been the scent of Hiccup's fear and the desire to protect him no matter what because Hiccup was his youngling and he had to keep him safe no matter what.

When he'd pinned that large man to the ground and prepared to kill him he'd had no idea that he was his little human's sire. That he was the one that had left his youngling alone when he still needed protecting. No, it was only after that he realized who the human pinned beneath him was and he'd let the man go because his youngling was still frightened and needed him. That had been all that had mattered to him. So long as Hiccup was safe then they could do whatever they wanted to him. Hiccup and his safety had been all that had mattered at that point.

He'd regretted the thought the moment that he'd been put on the boat and the wind blew an all to familiar scent into in nose. The alone scent mixed with his own scent and Hiccups. He hated that he was partially to blame for the smell rolling off of the youngling. He hated his youngling's sire even more however because he could have made it go away if he'd had any sense in his head. It would have been so simple to make Hiccup happy and yet the man had refused.

He hadn't been too worried however. Something inside of him had known that Hiccup would come for him and for his clan. Instinct however had told him how he'd do it. He knew that the dragons that the humans kept in cages would help and it wouldn't be the kind words and scratches that did it. At least not completely.

No, it would be the scent that would get to them. The lonely, human youngling, and dragon mixed scent that would do it. Because to his kind his little human smelled like a little youngling that had lost something important and every parental instinct would be screaming at them to make it right and to help the little one that needed them so badly. He hadn't been disappointed either.

They had come for the human clan and for him and to stop the Red Death. To stop the Queen that had fallen from grace and their favor long ago and had resorted to mind tricks so that she could keep what was no longer hers.

They had to stop the Queen. Him and his youngling together because his lonely, (less so at that moment) human, dragon scent wouldn't work on her. It wouldn't make her stop her destruction so that she might try to fix what was wrong with the little one that smelled so alone and scared, and brave all at once. She would not listen to what her senses told her anymore.

The fight between the three of them was brutal and something that he didn't quite wish to remember. His heart still ached when he remembered the split second that his humans scent had vanished before returning. He still remembered his youngling's sire's heartbroken voice and the scent of the large man's sorrow as he mourned for a youngling he though lost. The man had learned a lesson that day when he'd held Hiccup to his body and only released him when the man apologized for his actions and for the damage that he'd unknowingly done to his youngling.

He'd let his youngling go if only for a time after that because he'd needed to rest and he'd known that the other dragon's would watch after his youngling for him especially the Nightmare and Gronkle. They were female after all and the lonely youngling scent was harder for them to bare than it was for him too or at least that's what he told himself as he drifted off into a much needed sleep.

Toothless watched as Hiccup ran blunt fingernails along the spines of several Terrible Terrors as each one begged for the boy's attention. It was amusing in more ways than one to watch the little dragons make fools of themselves but they made Hiccup happy and he wasn't about to step in and stop the boy's fun.

He often wondered how the human's of his youngling's clan saw him and always remembered not long after that he didn't truly care. They were the cause of the alone scent that had lingered around his human so strongly when they had first met and they were the reason that it would never truly fade completely.

There was however more of a human scent on Hiccup now that his clan seemed more willing to do more than touch him for three seconds and leave though it was still hard to tell that they were there.

For Hiccup had his own unique scent and the first thing to reach every dragon's nose wasn't the human smell. No, the first scent to reach a dragon's nose was that of their own kind because for every human that touched the boy a dragon touched him as well. They lingered longer wanting scratches, pats, and kind hearted words but mostly wanting to be sure that the alone smell was buried as far as they could get it to go.

Because he was a youngling. One that they had adopted before his human clan had and he would be theirs for as long as it took for him to be ready to leave the nest and even then he would never truly be alone. He still needed some help in order to touch the sky with wings that were not his own.

Ooooooo

This is what happens when a plot bunny hits me and won't leave me the hell alone and I'm forved to write it so that way I can get back to work on other fanfiction. I not quite sure where the plot came from I only know that I wanted to write something for How to Train Your Dragon and I knew that I didn't want to start anything chaptered. At least not yet. The youngling idea was spawned by following line.

"Man, Hiccup, are you sure Toothless isn't a chick?" Snotlout asked grinning. "Maybe _she_ just thinks you're one fugly hatchling to look over. I mean _nobody's_ dragon fusses over them like yours."

This is from almne's story 'Why Couldn't it be a Lottery?'. I suggest that you go read it.

Now if any of this story confuses you beyond all rational thinking I do have an excuse for it.

One: It was like three something in the morning when I typed this up.

Two: I typed this up in between playing levels of Cartoon Networks "Towering Legends" and even though I'm close to mastering the game the stubborn bustards still won't give me the rest of the badges I've earned about thirty times.

And reason number three: Is above mentioned reason. I typed this up hoping that it will free my creative consciousness from HTTYD fic's long enough for me to get working on other fic's that need to be finished.

If you get too confused drop me a review or a message and I'll attempt to explain my way of thinking to you.


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